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We're the victims of a smear campaign by the CAQ, EMSB says

Author of the article:

Paul Cherry • Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

November 6, 2019 • 4 minute read

EMSB spokesperson Mike Cohen says the EMSB feels the leaked sections of a report are timed to coincide with the start this week of hearings in the National Assembly on Bill 40, the government's proposed legislation to reform school boards.John Mahoney/ Montreal Gazette

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The English Montreal School Board says it is the victim of a carefully timed smear campaign by the Coalition Avenir Québec government intended to justify any decision the province might make, possibly as soon as this week, on whether to take control of the organization.

The board made its point clear in a written response to allegations that have been levied against it and amid its concerns that Premier François Legault and Education Minister Jean-François Roberge will make their decision on whether or not to place the board under trusteeship on Wednesday during a regularly scheduled cabinet meeting in Quebec City. EMSB spokesperson Mike Cohen said a copy of the response to the allegations will be posted on the board’s website on Wednesday.

We're the victims of a smear campaign by the CAQ, EMSB saysBack to video

“What they are trying to do is not fair, it is not just, and we do not merit this. We’re not just going to sit there and take it,” Cohen said of the scenario the board has found itself in after Legault and Roberge reacted with surprise to damning media reports based on leaked sections of a report the Quebec government has had in its hands for weeks.

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To make matters more unfair, Cohen said, the government has yet to supply the board with a copy of the same report.

Cohen said the EMSB feels the leaks are timed to coincide with the start this week of hearings in the National Assembly on Bill 40, the government’s proposed legislation to reform school boards.

The leaks followed the release in September of an unflattering report produced by the Quebec education ministry that concluded: “The management problems of the school board have existed for many years. … A poor understanding of the roles of commissioners and managers, the politicization of issues and the lack of leadership by various actors involved in posts of responsibility have contributed to the establishment of a dysfunctional governance.”

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The report recommended three options to remedy the situation: name an outside administrator to assist the existing commissioners, impose corrective measures on the EMSB in order to improve governance and administration, or suspend for six months the powers of the commissioners and replace them all with an outside administrator.

While reacting to media reports of another leaked section of the audit this week, Roberge said he has not ruled out any of the three options.

There is a campaign and we’re the poster child for what’s wrong with school boards as far as they are concerned.”

“We’re being picked on — it’s clear,” Cohen said. “There is a campaign and we’re the poster child for what’s wrong with school boards as far as they are concerned. But we’re fighting back and, I think, by releasing this information (on Wednesday), we hope that everyone will see that, really, we’re doing everything on the up-and-up. Like any school board, we are completely open to any adjustments that are necessary. But the courtesy would have been for (Quebec’s) Treasury Board to share with us that report.”

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Among the allegations the EMSB addresses in their response is a claim that it broke rules by spending $44 million without entering the contracts in question into the Système électronique d’appel d’offres (SEAO), the government’s system to post public tenders.

Cohen said that by the time that part of the audit was leaked to the media in mid-October, the EMSB had already addressed most of the Treasury Board’s concerns. Cohen noted the school board’s replies were not included in the leaked section of the audit.

In the response that will be made public on Wednesday, the EMSB wrote: “Following the first set of comments that the EMSB provided to the Treasury Board on Oct. 9, the auditors now confirm that the act respecting contracting by public bodies does not apply to about two-thirds of the contracts in question. In essence, the new orientation of the Treasury Board wipes out more than $31 million of the $44 million that they took issue with only one month earlier.”

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The bulk of the $31 million involved money spent for unique schools that are part of the EMSB, including the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf.

“The operative word is ‘unique.’ The EMSB enters into agreements with these unique schools because of the specialized services they provide. It is not like a supplier of widgets where you have a host of suppliers,” the EMSB wrote.

Another $5.2 million involved natural gas the board purchased from Énergir (formerly Gaz Met), Quebec’s largest distributor of the product, to heat its buildings.

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“What do they expect us to do with Gaz Met? There is no competition for Gaz Met,” Cohen said. “It’s like saying ‘put a tender out to see if someone can compete with Hydro-Québec.’ It’s really not appropriate. But if they want us to post it just for the sake of posting it — fine, we’re going to post it.

“No government (in the past) has ever told us you have to post something (to SEAO) when there is no competition (for the contract). If they want us to post it, it’s a simple thing. But that’s not their objective here. Their objective is to use us as an example of a whipping horse, if you will, to abolish school boards. We hope everyone will see the light in the document (the board is making public on Wednesday).”

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